


Stand In The Sun And You Get Burnt

by Wallwalker



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Ashen Romance | Auspistice, Developing Relationship, Multi, Quadrant Confusion, polyfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-21
Updated: 2012-01-21
Packaged: 2017-10-29 22:04:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/324651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wallwalker/pseuds/Wallwalker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is going to end in disaster, and Kanaya knows it. Pity always gets in the way of being a proper auspistice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stand In The Sun And You Get Burnt

**Author's Note:**

> Mostly an experiment in writing ashen romance, possibly a warmup for another attempt with another trio. (Favorite quadrant: y/y?)

Their kismesissitude had been fine when it had been a game.

Kanaya had kept a closer eye on it than she liked to admit to anyone, even Karkat, and she'd told herself that it had been because she needed to keep Vriska pacified and that she couldn't do that if she didn't know what was happening in her life. In its way it had been cute, and the best that she could tell, harmless - because Eridan and Vriska had only been playing at being pirates, at being mortal enemies, because as long as it had been a game they couldn't actually do any damage.

Then Vriska had let one little detail slip, and that had all changed.

\---

Kanaya was spending the day at Vriska's hive, unconsciously tidying up the broken 8-balls as Vriska had sat at her computer, toying with Eridan. "Eridan sure is 8eing insufferable today!" she had said at one point, as Kanaya had come back into the room after tossing the third load of broken plastic into the waste recycler.

"That Is Good, Is It Not?" she had said carefully - she had done her best never to let on that she might not be entirely approving of their relationship, if only because their hate-games kept Vriska busy, and if she was making trouble for Eridan then she wasn't making trouble for anyone else.

"Of course it is," she had said, but the sneer on her face left the issue in doubt. "I just wish he'd be more patient! I mean, c'mon, I can't just 8uild a decent _doomsday device_ in a _day_ -"

Kanaya was reaching for a broom. She missed. "What Did You Just Say?" she asked, turning to look at Vriska. "Are You Building A Doomsday Device For Eridan?"

"Oh, don't be _silly,_ " Vriska had said, waving the worries away - but the wave was force, and so was her smile. Kanaya knew her too well. She was a good liar, but not good enough to fool the person who'd spent as much time as she could at trying to _understand_ her. "Part of another 8ig game we're going to be playing, you know?"

"Of Course," Kanaya had said, although she hadn't taken her eyes away from Vriska's face, not once. "Because Playing Games With Real Doomsday Devices Would Be Unconscionably Dangerous, As You Well Know."

"Well, duh," she said, rolling her good eye. Still forced, still a lie, but a nervous one, now. Kanaya had shown herself perfectly capable of handling Vriska's moods with stoic acceptance; Vriska knew that toying with her would be a waste of time. "C'mon, you don't really think I'd give him a real one, do you?"

"I Am Sure That You Would Not." And with that she picked up the broom and went to work, feeling Vriska's eye on her the whole time.

She saw something new in her face when she glimpsed it from the corner of her eye, something that wasn't the distant, puzzled sort of pity that Kanaya usually saw after she'd managed to talk her down from one of her more ridiculous and dangerous ideas, the one that said _I am confused by your meddling, meddlefriend, why do you even care?_ This one... well. Kanaya had seen it often enough. _Stop 8ugging me,_ it said, _you're cramping my style, why should you care anyway??_

 _Because You Need Me,_ Kanaya would have answered if she'd actually asked, although the thought of being needed but not wanted pulled at her heart harder than it had a right to.

\---

Eridan had pinged her on Trollian almost as soon as she'd left Vriska's hive, which confirmed her suspicions that Vriska had said something to him, or maybe that he'd been watching her in Vriska's hive - probably with that same look on his face. Kanaya didn't bother reading the message, but she didn't start ignoring him either. What she had to say to him was better said in person, and no doubt she'd get the opportunity soon enough.

She had expected this to happen sooner or later, although she had hoped for later. Either one would lose interest in the other, or the two of them would take their rivalry to levels that would prove dangerously unstable for everyone around them. Kanaya had to do something, didn't she?

Sure enough, when she arrived at her hive there he was, standing outside trying to look like he had just been passing by, arms crossed over his symbol. He looked at her, eyes narrowing behind those ridiculous useless sea-glass lenses. "So, Kan," he said crossly, "wwhat do you think you're doin?"

Subtlety was usually wasted on Eridan. Vriska had picked up Kanaya's veiled warning, even if she hadn't particularly respected it, but Eridan would've just let it float right over his head and kept on doing whatever it was he was doing. "You Already Know The Answer To That," she said, stopping just in front of him. "But Since You Insist On Having Me State The Obvious, I Want You To Stop Asking Vriska To Indulge Your Love For Dangerous Games."

He bristled visibly, his gills flushing dark, and she could see him reaching slightly for his harpoon, which he wore on his hip in the most ridiculously conspicious fashion _ever._ Kanaya stood her ground; if he thought that he could intimidate her, he was kidding himself. She dealt with Vriska on a daily basis; he wouldn't even be a _challenge._

Sure enough, he dropped the act, shrinking back like a hiding octopus. "Oh, come on," he muttered, looking away, "she's always floundering around with dangerous things anyway." _Including you, you insufferable fuckin meddling wwitch,_ he didn't say, but it was obvious enough from the look on his face. "I just wwant to _use_ them -"

"Using Them Will Put All Of Us At Risk, Including Myself, And Her. I Will Not Allow This Game Of A Kismesissitude To Cause Anyone Else To Be Harmed -"

Eridan gave a short, barking laugh. "What fuckin kismessissitude?" he said, laughing bitterly. "She just flipped on me, told me we weren't black anymore. Told me we were _ashen_ now, three sardines in a bright shiny conciliatory can, an if I didn't like it then I could go _swim,_ and it's all your fuckin fault!"

It took a lot of effort for her not to react. She hadn't expected Vriska to actually respond to her, not right away at least. Usually it took a lot of prodding and cajoling... well, unless Kanaya was trying to "convince" her to do something that she'd wanted to do anyway. It seemed that Eridan had been even more insufferable than she had let on.

It wouldn't do any good to explain that to Eridan, though. She didn't know him that well, not directly, but she'd heard enough from Feferi to know that he could be utterly impossible when he was angry, which was apparently most of the time. If she told him that it had been Vriska's idea, either he wouldn't believe her and stick around, or he _would_ believe her and run off to Vriska's hive to try to win back her hatred. Best to let him keep thinking it was Kanaya's fault.

"That Option," she said instead, keeping her tone as bland as she could, "Is Open To You, Of Course. Considering Your Habit Of Killing Lusi -"

"It's not a habit! I'm not doin it for fun, I'm just helping Fef-"

"- And Leaving Behind Dozens Of Orphans In The Process," she interrupted. "Do Not Tell Me That You Do Not Enjoy That; Your Bragging Suggests Otherwise. So I Am Sure You Could Find Any Number Of Young Trolls Who Already Have Excellent Reason To Hate You, With Very Little Effort."

He snorted through his gills contemptuously, an odd gurgling sort of sound. "I don't wwant to," he said. "I wwant _her_. Wwe wwere _hatched_ for each other."

"Of Course," she said, unable to stop herself from being sarcastic. She'd heard _that_ before from him, and the object of his desire never agreed. "But She Believes Otherwise, Or She Would Not Have Been So Eager To Accept My 'Meddling.' I Am Only Pointing Out, As You Would Say, That There Are Many Other Fish In The Sea -"

"Stop it!" he snaps, as she fully expected him to. "Don't mock me, and don't you dare fuckin' patronize me!" He spun around and started to walk away, stomping on a particularly lovely flower patch as he walked, out of sheer spite. Kanaya allowed herself to wince, since Eridan wasn't looking anyway - she had been particularly _proud_ of that one - but she had been prepared to make some small sacrifice. Relationships usually involved a lot of those, especially this sort of relationship. She'd just have to plant it again later, after sunrise.

Just before he left the grounds around her hive he turned to glare at her. "I'll get her back!" he shouted. "Just you wwait! I'll get her back as soon as I deal wwith you!"

She did not dignify him with a response; it was usually best not to, and easier to just turn and walk away. She could hear the harpoon fire a few times as she climbed up to her resting room, and she had little doubt that her landscaping was going to be reduced to a singed mess when she came back just after sunrise to keep it up. She'd have to work to have it all finished again before he came back; if he saw that she could replace it at will, he'd give up trying to hurt her by destroying it, probably.

Things were beginning well, at least. Eridan's anger was obvious, and Vriska's was as well, if only to her. If Vriska hadn't been angry, she would've trolled Kanaya as soon as she'd walked into her hive. And as long as they stayed angry at her they wouldn't concentrate so hard on each other.

Kanaya sat down and bit her lip, and wondered. If everything was beginning so well, why did she feel like she was messing everything up?

\---

Usually, the first meeting between the three people in an ashen relationship was the acid test - the determination of whether or not an auspistice was good enough at holding the attention of the others, or maybe too good, depending on the situation. Kanaya had had widely differing levels of success with first meetings. Some had gone perfectly; others had ended with the two people she was attempting to mediate between pushing her aside and waxing black for each other all over again, which wasn't always the worst thing that could happen. Once she had ended up with one of two throwing up her hands and wandering away, and the other trying his best to talk Kanaya into being _his_ kismesis. _That_ one had been awkward, to say the least.

The thing that Kanaya tried to remember about auspistizing was that she couldn't just shut down all of the hateful feelings between the other two. If she ever managed to do that, then there wouldn't be a relationship anymore. She had learned to let the hate burn, much like the sun at its zenith. The trick was to make sure that you were there to block the worst of its rays, even if that meant being burned to a crisp, because standing in the middle of that much hate that wasn't even really _yours_ could be especially painful; it wasn't called _ashen_ for nothing, after all. One could only reflect some of that hate back, because too little meant that she was failing to mediate properly and too much would result in the same sort of situation she'd had to work for a very long time to defuse.

It had ended as well as anyone could have expected it to, anyway; the other troll had eventually moved far away after swearing to never speak to Kanaya again. Kanaya had felt a bit guilty about failing so completely, but it was just as well; she just hadn't been _interested_ in a concupiscent relationship with him. Her newly-established morailligence with Vriska had taken up most of her time back then, anyway; she wouldn't have had time to begin a new relationship, even if she'd wanted to.

She was older now, though, and she'd learned a lot since then. Hopefully things would go well this time. Eridan had all but begged her to set up this meeting to exchange... something that he'd been very vague about, which she was at least fairly certain was something that he should not be asking Vriska for. Vriska had balked for days, but eventually - after a lot of insistent cajoling and angry prodding - she'd agreed, if only to make Kanaya stop meddling and shut _up_ already.

By the time Kanaya had arrived at the designated meeting place - a small, out-of-the-way cave by the sea, probably the former home of some reclusive indigoblood, now long deserted - Eridan had already been there, and judging from the visible disturbances in the silt and sand on the cave floor he had been pacing there for some time. "She's fuckin late," he'd said, not even looking up at Kanaya as she walked in. "Wwhy can't you convince her to showw up on time?"

"You Are Fortunate That I Convinced Her To Come At All," she said cooly, looking at the package he'd left carelessly by the entrance. "She Did Not Wish To Do So."

"Yeah, wwell, if she doesn't get here soon I'm swimmin off," he snarled.

"If She Does Not Come Soon I Will Go And Fetch Her Myself," Kanaya retorted. "We Had A Deal."

A loud, overdone, echoing sigh came from further back in the cave. "Oh, come on," Vriska said, emerging from a shadow that neither of them had seen, oilcloth-wrapped bundle under her arm. "I expect this from him, 8ut from you?" She laughed, tossing her tangled hair, stiff from salt from the sea spray, and Kanaya bit her lip for a moment. "Give me a little credit!"

"I Only Give You As Much Credit As You Deserve," Kanaya said smoothly, "And Only When You Deserve It."

"Hmph. You're so mean sometimes." She rolled her eyes. "Can we just get this finished? I've got lots of 8etter things I could be doing!"

"Yeah, I bet you do," Eridan snarled. "Breaking more useless plastic toys, carping about with that useless wwriggler -"

Vriska's smile faded. "That," she said archly, "is none of your 8usiness!"

"No," Kanaya said, although she filed it away for future reference. Vriska hadn't said anything about a new black crush. "It Is Not. And Even If Neither Of You Have Anything Better To Do With Your Nights, I Do. Finish This Quickly."

"Fine," Eridan said, deflating slightly with disappointment and glaring at Kanaya before he walked over and snatched the bundle from Vriska. Vriska, surprisingly enough, didn't even try to pull it away. Maybe she was actually listening to Kanaya for a change. "Just leave me alone for a wwhile. I'm goin home and figurin this thing out."

"Yeah, fish8rain," Vriska said, a little too gleefully. "Good luck with that!"

Eridan didn't answer, just walked out and leaped into the sea without a word.

"Please Tell Me That Wasn't A Doomsday Device," Kanaya said, turning to Vriska.

"Oh, leave it alone, you 8ig meddler," Vriska said. "It never worked anyway, and he's too dum8 to figure it out." She practically strutted over to the bundle that Eridan had left, grabbed it, and strutted over to the cave entrance, slinging it over her shoulder. "I mean, come on! He didn't even 8other to look at it before leaving me with this! He deserves whatever he gets!"

Kanaya bit her tongue again. She had a very strong suspicion about what Eridan had left behind, but she would be making a mistake saying anything before letting Eridan get a good head start. Better Vriska discovered it on her own. "Then I Suppose You Won This Round," she said, wryly.

"You 8et! Isn't it gr8?" she said cheerfully. "I love winning so much. Especially when someone's trying to stop me from doing it!"

"You Know Better Than That," Kanaya said, shaking her head.

"Yeah," Vriska said. "Whatever." But there was something of a hitch in her voice, and she looked like she was about to say something else - her eyes softened with pity for a moment before they darkened again with the expected conciliatory hate, and she set her jaw and stalked away without a word.

That was going to be a problem, Kanaya thought, suddenly feeling a bit glum. Everything else had gone swimmingly, but if she couldn't put aside the pale quadrant when she needed to... or the other things... well.

Not that she had much of a choice, really. If Vriska and Eridan were left to their own devices, if they let their hate be more than a game, they'd probably end up hurting everyone else a lot more than they managed to hurt themselves. _It's Better This Way,_ she told herself. _Better For Everyone._

She sighed as she walked out of the cave, allowing herself to indulge for a moment in self-pity. The memory of how Vriska had tossed her hair was stuck in her mind; it was hard to avoid, really.

 _Everyone But Me._

\---

The detente didn't last long. No sooner had Kanaya walked back into her hive did she start getting spammed with messages - nothing she hadn't expected, of course. Frothing rage, angry accusations of Vriska giving Eridan a broken device and of Eridan giving Vriska cheap seashells covered in gold-colored paint and calling them _treasure._

She took a deep breath and counted to ten before diving in.

grimAuxiliatrix [GA] opened memo on board This Is Ridiculous, Stop It.

arachnidsGrip [AG] responded to memo.  
AG: Wow, that was fast!  
AG: What is this, the 8oard you put all of your ashen sweettalk sessions on?  
AG: I thought you'd at least make a new one for me! ::::(  
GA: I Find Your Conclusion Insulting.  
GA: Besides, There Are No Other Memos On This Board, As You Can Plainly See.  
AG: Yeah, you're so good at keeping them hidden.  
AG: I know you, you know! So discreet.  
caligulasAquarium [CA] responded to memo.  
CA: you see what shes doing, shes already avvoiding the issue on porpoise  
CA: because she knows she sold me a fuckin useless piece of carp  
CA: crap, ugh  
AG: Hahahahaha, can't you stop with the stupid fish puns for one conversation? ::::)  
CA: shut up  
CA: you owwed me that devvice anyway, i shouldn't havve had to give you anyfin  
AG: No, I will not shut up!  
AG: We 8roke off that arrangement when we ended that relationship!  
CA: thats ridiculous, wwe had a deal  
CA: i held up my end and i wasnt gonna breaker my fuckin promise  
AG: Well, i did, so there! I had to ask for something in return, it's only fair!  
AG: You said you'd give me real pirate treasure, and what do you do?  
AG: You give me a 8unch of worthless seashells!  
AG: So even if I did give you a useless machine - which I don't admit that I did, 8ecause I don't think you're smart enough to use one of my sophisticated masterpieces! - you got exactly what you deserved anyway.  
AG: So there!  
GA: So You Both Tried To Trick Each Other.  
GA: I Do Not Know Why This Surprises Either Of You, In All Frankness.  
AG: I prefer to think of it as a test! A test that he failed.  
AG: The way he always fails at everything.  
AG: 8esides, if you really cared about us being honest, you could've checked the 8ags yourself!  
CA: say, yeah, you could havve done that  
CA: wwhy didn't you do that kan  
CA: i wwanted a shark and you let her sell me a trout  
CA: i thought you wwere there to keep things civvil and honest  
GA: You Misunderstood, Then.  
GA: I Was There To Keep Things Functional.  
GA: And You Two Acted Exactly The Way I Expected You To.  
GA: However, You Did So Without Seeking To Harm Each Other Or Anyone Else Directly.  
GA: I Saw No Reason To Change Things.  
CA: hmph, this is codding useless  
CA: ill get both of you for this  
CA: just you wwait  
CA ceased responding to memo.  
AG: What a whiner! ::::p  
GA: You Did Try To Cheat Him, You Know.  
GA: I Hardly Regard You As Blameless In This.  
AG: I know, I knoooow! C'mon, it's not like you would've wanted me to give him a real doomsday device!  
GA: No, But A Better Option Would Have Been Not Entertaining His Request.  
GA: I Would Have Happily Told Him No On Your Behalf.  
AG: So I wanted to get something out of him! 8ig deal.  
AG: Anyway, are you coming over tonight?  
GA: Tonight? I Am Not Sure That Is Wise.  
AG: What???  
AG: Why not??? 

Kanaya stopped and stared at the screen half of her screaming to type no, give her the tough love she needed, let her know that she wasn't happy with the way she and Eridan were behaving.

The rest of her... well. Vriska was still Vriska.

GA: I Suppose I Can Come For A While.  
GA: Let Me Get Some Sleep, And I Will Be There Two Hours Before Sunrise.

Kanaya still needed her. And maybe Vriska still needed Kanaya too.

AG: Gr8! ::::)  
AG: See you in a few!  
AG ceased responding to memo.

GA closed memo.

This relationship was going to end in disaster. She just knew it. 


End file.
